Editorial: Face the toll equity issue, and settle it

Tim Cahill is right. The Patrick Administration should be settling the Pike toll equity suit, not fighting it.

Tim Cahill is right. The Patrick Administration should be settling the Pike toll equity lawsuit, not fighting it.

The class-action lawsuit challenges a state policy that has been criticized for years: Spending money from tollpayers to build and maintain the Big Dig, a highway others ride for free.

Thirteen years after a transportation reorganization put the Big Dig on the tollpayers' shoulders, the Legislature has now reversed that policy. The transportation reform bill signed into law last month by Gov. Deval Patrick requires that toll revenue be kept separate from other transportation accounts, and that it must only be spent on tolled sections of highway. That includes debt payments as well as maintenance going forward.

That's a victory for toll equity Patrick has been hesitant to embrace. What's worse, a spokesman for his Transportation Department said this week toll money is still being spent on Big Dig debt while officials analyze the transportation reform bill.

Such equivocation helps no one. The governor should order his transportation chief to implement the new law with transparency and good faith. Patrick was elected on a pledge to shut down Beacon Hill's "fiscal shell games" exemplified by the sorry history of the Big Dig. He must not set up a new shell game with toll revenue.

But what about the money tollpayers from west and north of Boston have plowed into the free Big Dig in the past? The Turnpike Toll Equity Trust, which has brought its suit on behalf of nearly 2,000 tollpayers, argues that more than $400 million has been illegally diverted from toll revenue over the last three years. It is a wrong that should be righted anyway, and the lawsuit ensures the topic cannot be avoided.

The Toll Equity Trust, led by former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, lead attorney Jan Schlictmann and four lead plaintiffs from MetroWest, isn't looking to bankrupt the state or force tax increases. Current toll revenue, along with the $100 million a year the Legislature has committed to Mass. Pike obligations, should be enough to cover the Metropolitan Highway System's needs, even with the revenue streams separated as the law requires.

Squaring the account with tollpayers over the millions diverted in previous years should be the subject of settlement talks. It need not be in one big payment or in the form of cash refunds. An agreement could instead lock in commitments to reduce or eliminate tolls over a number of years.

Treasurer Cahill, who has never been considered a champion of tollpayers, may have been looking to build support for a possible run for governor when he called last week for Patrick to settle the suit. But he also knows the Toll Equity Trust has a strong case, one that could jeopardize investors' confidence in the new transportation finance structure and cost far more in the long run.

The new Mass. Department of Transportation represents a fresh start. It's time to settle old grievances and initiate a new financial transparency. Patrick should seize this opportunity to bury the toll equity issue along with the Mass. Turnpike Authority.

MetroWest Daily News

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